Strategy for healthy biz environment in India needed

Published: Friday, August 29, 2008, 16:40 [IST]

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New Delhi, Aug 29 (UNI) A leading government official today called for a multi-pronged strategy, including improved quality of regulation and policy formulation processes for creating a healthy business environment so as to do away with the hurdles entrepreneurs were facing in setting up and doing business in India.

Outlining the strategy, Union IT Secretary Jainder Singh referred to the 'Ease of Doing Business' rankings 2008, released by the World Bank, in which India has been ranked 120th out of 178 countries, saying this was an indication of the hurdles the entrepreneurs were facing in doing business in the country.

To address this, the official said, the government need a multi-pronged strategy, which includes ''improving the quality of regulation, improving policy formulation processes and creating a healthy business environment by streamlining the interaction and improving interface between government and business.'' ''This would cut out the redundancies in procedures and emphasising immediate and efficient delivery of services,'' he said while speaking at 'Thinkshop on next Gen MCA21', organised by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

Mr Singh hoped that Next Gen MCA21 would help India climb high on the future 'Ease of Doing Business' rankings. The MCA21 has been launched with a view to evolving its flagship e-Governance project, the MCA21 into Next Gen MCA21 to meet the needs of the future.

MCA Secretary Anurag Goel highlighted the thought process that has gone into conceptualising the Next Gen MCA21 and said it is being designed to meet the needs of the future. He said his Ministry considers partnership between the government and corporates most essential for economic growth and good corporate governance.

Mr Goel invited top level corporates, professionals and IT experts to partner with his Ministry in the series of e-Governance initiatives being planned. He said the initiative for embarking upon Next Gen MCA was not for an incremental improvement in MCA21, but under it, the Ministry would like to achieve a quantum jump by bringing in concepts and elements which did not exist in MCA21 today.

The Secretary said the Next Gen MCA21 should be able to provide a single regulatory portal for business and should be linked internally to various regulatory Ministries and individual regulators so that a single B2G &R (Business to Government&Regulation) window is available to the business, capable of dealing with tomorrow's business requirements, accounting systems, and reporting systems like multiple balance sheet and CSR reports.

Former NASSCOM President Kiran Karnik in his address said MCA21 had brought in transparency in corporate affairs and helped all the stakeholders, not only private sector and the government but also the public at large.

Calling for a total change in the thought process, Mr Karnik said this would also help in compliance of rules and regulations and added that the MCA21 project was an example of how public-private partnership should be implemented.

Mr Karnik also chaired the deliberation session. The Thinkshop is being attended by leading corporate personalities and experts in e-governance.